What are Virtual Communities? How do they work?
Virtual communities are "places" online where people with common beliefs or interests assemble. By "places," I do not mean literal, physical buildings or locations, but rather sites on the World Wide Web. Here, people can meet and communicate with others via chat rooms, BBS-like postings, or email, or just look for information.
Virtual communities work by self-continuation. People who belong to them shape the direction in which they head in. This is done any time a member contributes towards the community in some way, whether it be by offering an opinion in a discussion, by sharing some information they found interesting, or in general sharing information for others to read and react to.
What is their purpose?
The purpose of virtual communities is to bring together people who share common interests. Much like how athletic, academic, or social clubs are formed on school campuses, neighborhoods, or communities, virtual communities serve as a valuable source of information and provide its members with a sense of unity and belonging.
Who creates them?
Virtual communities are usually created and maintained by a business or individual who was interested in establishing an online presence. Such persons oversee the operations of the website, which may include the organization of online community activities, maintenance of the website, and expansion of the website technologically, such as bringing in real-time chat, video chat, and bulletin-board capabilities.
Give an example of a virtual community.
An example of a virtual community can be found in the fan forum section of the website of any popular television show. Here, members exchange information and discuss their common interest in the television show. Members may correspond outside the forum via email, or may choose to meet face-to-face. Depending on the site, members may also get to communicate via real-time chat, or by a bulletin-board system. Often, members of these virtual communities are beneficiaries of first-hand information about the show, such as upcoming developments, and may get to give feedback to the makers of their favorite show.
How do virtual communities spread?
Virtual communities often spread when sheer size or geography allows or demands it. Large membership may enable localized branches to form, splitting the original community. They can also branch out when the topics of interest change or lead away from those of the larger group.
For example, let's say I am in charge of a virtual community whose common interest is Star Trek. If membership in the Midwest was large enough, I might split that section of the community off as an independent section of my community. Or, if a large portion of the community lost interest in the original Star Trek and enjoyed Star Trek Voyager more, they may decide to form their own community based on an interest in Voyager.
Would I be a member of a virtual community?
Sure. But I don't think I'd really make it a point to actively search for one. It sounds like a good idea, but I don't really have the interest in maintaining virtual relationships. At least not yet.
I think there would have to be a few conditions for me to join a virtual community. For one thing, the virtual community would have to be based on an interest or belief I felt strongly about. If I joined a community based on all of my interests, I wouldn't have time for my offline life. Secondly, I don't think I'd enjoy being a part of a group who took the interest excessively seriously. I couldn't stand to be a member of a cult-ish bunch that demanded outrageous sums of money or an unreasonable level of devotion to its leader or to other members. In order for me to feel totally comfortable, I would have to feel like I was free to participate when and if I chose to. I would not want it to take up too large a part of my life.
I suppose what I want is the sense of community, but without a deep sense of obligation to the group.
Why are virtual communities significant?
Virtual communities serve an important function on the Web. They give people a "place" to "go" to, where people can feel like they belong to something in the large intimidating realm that is cyberspace. With a "place" to "go" to and "be", the Web is less big and less intimidating and less mysterious to the inexperienced user.
Virtual communities also serve to give the Web a basic structure. They create groups and sections that make it easy to imagine the structure of the Web- it almost allows the Web to organize itself. There are so many things that we can find online; not only information, but things like interactivity, software to download, games, multimedia, eta. These things give the Web shape by being discrete sections. This can be seen on a small scale on a website: for example, the ESPN website has a multimedia section, sections where you can read textual information, and another for fans to assemble and interact.This model of different section for different purposes is seen all over the Web, and one can imagine that the Web itself roughly follows this model.
Like face-to-face communities, virtual communities provide its members with a sense of unity. They make a member feel welcome and as if he is just like everyone else. They provide a sense of belonging; it's almost like having a family online.
What do you see for the future of virtual communities?
I think eventually the Web will be a super network of virtual communities. As it stands now, the Web is highly disorganized, and for the most part, it is unmapped territory. One article I read in the newspaper not long ago estimated that as much as 60% of the Web pages in existence are not surveyed when search engines like Yahoo! perform searches. Our present system of organization (or lack thereof) is very inefficient, and I can see it being replaced with a system where similar sites are grouped together in communities. Not only does this make for highly efficient Web searching and surfing, but it may also strengthen the sense of oneness by bringing together like-minded individuals or organizations. The only downside I can see with this system is that competition for Websurfers' attention may become heated. When sites of a similar topic are placed together, comparisons will undoubtedly occur, making the less appealing sites (less appealing for whatever reason) less visited than their superior (superior for whatever reasons) counterparts. Perhaps this will contribute to an overhaul of the Web, as competing sites strive to out-dazzle each other.
Of course, easy websurfing is not the most important thing to everyone. Some people may prefer that the Web stay the way it is now, disorganized and all. But for the 60% of unsurveyed sites out there, I doubt they won't miss the visitors.
Conclusions
Future generations can survey the Web and examine how virtual communities have evolved -if at all- since this report was written. They can also see how the Web as a whole has changed. I think that the Web and the Internet has an infinite potential for growth, and it will be interesting to see what changes have occurred and what hasn't changed since this report was written.